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An eastern European war criminal named Mirko Dadich is released from prison, thanks to Division. There are protests in the streets, but Division wants to protect him long enough to get to the enriched uranium he hid before he was locked away. Now that he's out of jail, he's got a hankering for a hooker, which Percy happily provides him in the form of Alex. Dumb, dumb plan. She seizes the opportunity to feed Nikita the details of the mission. Nikita shows up to blow Dadich away, but a group of mercenaries led by another young woman gets to him first. The mercenaries kidnap him and make him take them to the GPS device that will locate his radioactive stash. The young woman reveals she's the daughter of Dadich's former top scientist, who was killed after Dadich was deposed. Now she wants to sell the uranium because her family needs the money. Dumb plans abound! Nikita manages to track them down and destroy the GPS, much to Michael's chagrin, but at least she doesn't shoot him this time. Percy orders Michael to kill Dadich before the cops can find him and he obliges, pretty happily.
Throughout all of this, there are flashbacks to when Nikita first found a drug-addled Alex a year ago. Nikita gets her cleaned up and out, which Alex at first protests. Nikita persists, though, because she once went through much the same thing. When she saves Alex from a suicide attempt, Alex finally begins to trust her and that, we presume, is when her real training began. In her Division training, things are not as promising: Fellow recruit Jaden is still trying to start shit with her and Percy has given them just two weeks to shape up or... dot, dot, dot.
See what our No Prior Knowledge vlogger thinks of Nikita, below:
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Tippi Blevins is not a highly-trained secret assassin. As far as anyone knows. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open on Nikita doing a bit of shopping. The boutique is very high-end, complete with museum lighting, personal service and tastefully displayed weapons of the deadly sort. She talks to a well-dressed man named Trevor while a Chopin Nocturne plays softly in the background. Trevor calls her one of his favorite customers, and Nikita coos over the beauty of some guns like they were jewelry. She notices a gun sitting by itself, but Trevor notes it's his own. She runs her hand across it thoughtfully, then she comes across a big honking sniper rifle and sighs, "Love!" She places her order on the spot, but Trevor picks up his gun and aims it at her. Now that she's gone rogue, there's a "great demand for her corpse." He pulls the trigger, but the gun doesn't fire, since Nikita turned the safety on when she touched it. He's positively aghast. Don't worry, Trev; it happens to lots of guys. Trevor is just about pooping his pants when Nikita hoists her new and very gigantic gun into position and lines him up in the crosshairs. She doesn't waste a bullet on him, though, since she has a much bigger target in mind.
That target is one Mirko Dadich. We move to a protest outside the courthouse where a reporter informs us Dadich's conviction has just been overturned. Michael meets Dadich inside, but the thing we see is Dadich being led outside by cops, covering his head with a jacket. One of the protesters pulls it off, revealing an impostor. A young blond woman with a generic Eastern European accent notices this and says into her headset, "Hold on, that's not Dadich!" She looks across the street where the real Dadich is getting into a black SUV with Michael and realizes he's hired protection. She stomps off to a van to meet up with her unseen cohorts. Inside the SUV, Percy is there to greet Dadich. Percy promises that in six months, Dadich won't be hiding from his enemies anymore: "They'll be hiding from you."
Charm School Training Lab. The recruits are trying to hack into their computers while Birkhoff barks orders at them. Thom reaches over and types something into Alex's computer, while Jaden watches from behind. They all fail to get into their targets. Including Thom, who's been training for a year now. Birkhoff seems more disappointed in Alex, though, who explains that hacking is all hard and stuff. "Must be the drugs," Jaden snits. "You know how junkies are." Thom takes the blame for giving Alex the wrong code, but Birkhoff keeps yapping like a particularly pissy little dog and sends them all away. Except Alex, whom he orders to stay behind and keep working till she gets it right. "Scrubs who can't pass the basics don't survive in here very long," he warns. He looks like the product of a mating between a Yorkie and David Spade.
Dadich is getting settled into his fancy hotel suite under Michael and Percy's watchful eyes. Michael is worried that the location isn't secure. Percy's like, "Oh, pish posh! What could possibly go wrong?" Michael rattles off the list: "Communist rebels, hitmen from the old country... Nikita?" He even reminds Percy that Nikita threatened to come after them. Percy dismisses all that: "She can't come after us without intel!" Dude, you established just last week that she has intel. In fact, as we see in a cutaway, Nikita is at her fabulous loft right now, getting a message from Alex in the computer lab. [Again, giving new recruits in a top-secret program who were recently junkies e-mail access seems like a bad idea. - Zach] Back in the suite, Dadich offers Percy a drink and goes over the plan Division has already laid out. They're going to assassinate Dadich's successor and then return him to power in six months. Dadich doesn't have the money for their services, but Percy says Dadich can pay him in the 25 kilos of enriched uranium he stashed away before going to prison. "A little uranium always comes in handy," Percy says. Sort of like tomato paste, it's always good to have some around. Dadich looks like he's passing a pine cone through his urethra, but Percy tells him to relax. "This is me you're talking to, not the US government." Dadich agrees to think it over. All he needs is some time and a few other things. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more. Dadich leaves the room. Michael's confused about what it is that Dadich wants. "The man just got out of prison," Percy says. "What do you think he wants?" A private bathroom? Metal utensils? Booze that wasn't made in a toilet? The answer, of course, is female tail, and Michael is disgusted to be pimping for Dadich. Percy complains about budget shortfalls, so it's either this or getting rid of the "young recruits." But then who would do their assassinating? Helen Mirren? Michael agrees to call an escort service, but Percy has the brilliant idea to use Alex instead. Why? "She'll remind Mirko of his homeland!" Michael looks stricken by the stupidity of this plot.
Meanwhile, Alex is still messaging Nikita. She's confident that Birkhoff thinks she's an idiot, but Nikita tells her not to underestimate him and not to screw up too much. Nikita turns on a TTS program that reads Alex's messages out loud to her so that she has her hands free to play with her new gun. She asks Alex for a new name, but she doesn't have it. They talk about how Nikita knows it's a "protection mission" based on the operatives Alex told her were activated. Nikita tells Alex to lay low, but Alex is insistent she can get the information. She really doesn't seem that well-trained to me. "You don't have to protect me anymore," Alex says.
Flash back to a year ago, when Alex was test-driving a "heroin chic" look. She shows up at her dealer's house, but scumbag Ronnie doesn't think she's paying him enough for a hit. So he gives her an actual hit, right across the face. Ronnie and his scumbag buddies pin her down on a bed. Luckily, Nikita walks into the room before he can take off more than his shirt. "Let the girl go," she says. They pull guns on her, so she kicks all their asses. Frightened, Alex finds a gun and fires wildly. Nikita knocks her out before she can shoot anyone.
Charm School. The recruits are lined up at a long table, all blindfolded as they assemble and disassemble submachine guns by touch alone. An instructor barks at them to do it again. Alex finishes first, even ahead of poor, slow Thom. The instructor praises her. Jaden gives her the ol' stink eye. Michael calls Alex away from the group, telling her she's been activated for an op. This just pisses Jaden off even more. "I'm gonna get that bitch," she swears. Thom looks worried. Maybe the class is about dressing yourself, and he hasn't mastered tying his own shoes yet.
Alex is with Amanda, getting her hair and makeup done. Alex wonders why she's being activated so early, and Amanda guesses Michael has seen the improvement in her. "He wouldn't use you if he didn't think you were ready." "Ready for what?" Alex wants to know. No one will tell her what her mission is. Amanda says it's safer that way. That... doesn't seem likely. Amanda tells her it's a gift to be activated. "And it's very rude to question a gift." This leads to Alex flashing back again to a year ago. She wakes up trapped in a steamy, makeshift sauna in Nikita's loft. She screams to be let out. Nikita is once again wandering around in her lingerie, waiting for the Victoria's Secret camera crew. She explains that the sauna will help Alex get clean. She echoes Amanda's words about gifts. Alex begs for a hit. Nikita, obviously pained, sympathizes with her. She knows the symptoms of withdrawal, because she's been through it herself. Nikita wipes away tears and says, "I only promise you one thing: it's going to get worse before it gets better."
In the present day, Michael leads a gussied-up Alex into Dadich's suite. "So where's the party?" she asks, looking around at the otherwise empty room. Dadich indicates the bedroom. Alex looks back at Michael, whose look of shame tells her everything she needs to know about why she's really there. She puts on a smile and follows Dadich into the bedroom, while Michael watches, looking sick. Alex excuses herself to the bathroom to "freshen up" and takes a phone in with her. Once alone, she dials Nikita. Nikita's on the other line, speaking to a source in French about getting dirt on Division when she gets the call from Alex. Alex gives Nikita all the pertinent details about the mission, including the fact that she's with Dadich right now. Nikita grabs her new gun and hauls ass.
Nikita uses a commercial break to get to a rooftop across from the hotel. She puts her gigantic rifle together while Alex tries bide her time with an increasingly horny Dadich. She goes to the window and parts the curtains, giving Nikita a clear view inside. Dadich puts the moves on Alex. When she resists, he smacks her across the face. He closes the curtains. Nikita attaches a thermographic scope to the rifle, but she still can't quite get a clear shot. She notices a nondescript van speeding into an alley beside the hotel. She uses a monocular to get a look at the new interlopers, dressed in black, but doesn't recognize them. Inside the hotel, Michael is just outside Dadich's bedroom door, listening to the violence within. When he can't take it anymore, he barges in and punches Dadich. Dadich goes down, conveniently pulling the curtains in the process. The interlopers come in, guns blazing. Dadich's security guards are shot. Michael takes one of them on, hand to hand. The blond woman from the angry mob comes in, levels a gun at Dadich and addresses him by name. She orders him to get up. Nikita, back at her rifle, watches and waits for her opportunity. Finally, she shoots the guy who's grappling with Michael. Michael is shocked to see a neat bullet hole in the window. The interlopers grab Dadich and hightail it out of there. Michael goes to the window and sees Nikita running across the rooftop.
Charm School. Alex is in her quarters with Percy and Michael. Percy presses her for details, but she doesn't remember anything. Michael is pissed because Alex clearly wasn't ready. Percy is just pissed in general and goes stomping off in a huff. Percy checks in on one of the captured interlopers. Division's goons haven't been able to get anything out of him except a word that means "vengeance," so Percy orders them to get "the Inquisitor" down there to work on him. Michael comes in to enlighten Percy and the rest of us about how the interlopers are freedom fighters who want to bring Dadich to justice for his war crimes. Percy thinks that's why "bleeding heart" Nikita is involved, but Michael doesn't think she's working with them, since she shot one of them. "She missed," Percy says. "She was targeting you." Heh. Michael seethes, but only succeeds in looking like an adorably huffy baby otter. About this time, the Inquisitor shows up. Unexpectedly, it's Amanda. Nobody expects a sexy Inquisition!
Nikita's back at her loft, trying to get in touch with Alex via computer. While she waits, she remembers the past. Alex is out of the sauna and sitting on a cot when Nikita walks in, offering her some new clothes. Alex sulks and wants to know what Nikita plans to do with her. Nikita talks about their mutual experiences with drugs and how she just wants to help her. She sees in Alex a chance to redeem herself for crimes she committed while high. Alex thinks Nikita's been following her, but Nikita denies it. She promises Alex her freedom as soon as she's back to full health. Alex sulks some more. In the present day, Nikita still hasn't gotten hold of her protégé.
Charm School. Lab. Birkhoff is examining the round they found in one of the Interlopers. It's blah blah blah something tungsten. Birkhoff gets to work analyzing it to find a black market dealer's chemical signature. "I'll run it through Shadownet," he says, referring to the software of his own creation. Michael teases him about the name a bit, like the playful little otter that he is. Amanda saunters in at this point, wearing rubber gloves. She has bad news about the interlopers: "They know about the nuclear material." In better news, Shadownet found a match for the round.
Michael pays a visit to Trevor's elegant little black market shop. Trevor's face pays a visit to a table. Michael wants Nikita's info, but Trevor plays dumb. Naturally, Nikita chooses this moment to call his cell phone. When Trevor answers, she asks for Michael. She commends him for tracking the round so quickly. They chitchat about the interlopers for a bit. Nikita's cool with them until Michael tells her they're mercenaries after Dadich's nuclear material. Michael says Dadich has hidden a GPS device that shows the uranium's location. It's just a matter of time before the mercs get it. Michael's tone is accusatory, so Nikita reminds him it's Division's fault for "getting in bed" with Dadich in the first place. Kinky. And crowded. Nikita thinks Percy will go down for this, but Michael mentions again all the "little black boxes" of dirty info Percy has. "You can quit or you can die, but you can't stop Division," Michael tells her. "No one can." He looks a bit saddened by that.
Back to the past. Alex is asleep, but not resting. She mumbles in her sleep, then screams. Nikita comforts her. In the present, she's studying video footage of the protest from Dadich's release when she gets a message from Alex. Alex is in the computer lab, assuring Nikita she's OK and still playing dumb. She tells Nikita about the blond Interloper. Before she can type anything else, Jaden shows up behind her. Jaden grabs her by the hair, calling her "teacher's pet" and throwing her into the wall. Fisticuffs ensue. Alex picks up a chair, but instead of bashing it into Jaden, she hurls it at the computer she'd been using. That's one way to log off, I guess. The fight goes on until instructors rush in to pull the ladies apart. Meanwhile, Nikita is still looking over the footage. She finds the blond.
Division has also found her. In Charm School headquarters, Amanda says she's Hanna Cushko, daughter of a scientist who once worked for Dadich. Birkhoff suggests trying facial recognition software to find her if she tries to leave the country, but Michael thinks it would be too late. Hanna will have the uranium by then, so they need to get ahead of her.
Nikita's thoughts are much the same. She finds a shot of the Interlopers' van and calls 911 and pretends it's hers. She gives the operator the license and says it was stolen. In said van, Hanna and the Interlopers are beating Dadich. They demand to know the location of the GPS. Dadich feigns ignorance. "You really don't remember me, do you?" Hanna asks. This time, his ignorance is real, so she explains her father used to work for him in his secret nuclear program. She's pissed that her father was executed after Dadich fled. He tries to make a deal with her, but she's not dealing. "The uranium my father enriched for you is his only legacehh!" she says, piling the accent on. She's going to sell it to support the family. They beat on Dadich some more.
In Nikita's loft, a long night of listening to a police scanner pays off when she overhears a report on "her" stolen van. She races off.
Charm School HQ. Birkhoff works his computer magic to find surveillance footage of Dadich stashing the GPS device inside a subway station before he was arrested. Hannah and the interlopers are already there with Dadich. He leads them to a locker inside the station. "Very clever," Hanna remarks. Really? Don't half of all baddies in movies do exactly this? It almost never ends well. As soon as Hannah has the satchel with the GPS device, Nikita is there to grab it away. Hanna and her men pull guns and fire. Subway patrons scream and scatter. Nikita fires back. Michael and Division operatives arrive on the scene. Rock music and guns blaze. Dadich hides behind a column. Hanna's men are taken out in moments. Hanna herself advances on Michael, gun raised. Michael shoots her in the upper chest and she goes down. Nikita takes the opportunity to slip away. Dadich points in her direction and Michael runs. He chases her down to an empty subway platform, calling her name. She jumps down to the tracks and climbs up the opposite side. Michael, his gun trained on her, demands she give him the GPS. "You can have it," she says cheerfully, tossing the bag onto the tracks just as a train comes into view. The bag is promptly smushed. "Oops!" Nikita says. By the time the train thunders past, Michael is aiming at empty space.
Michael is one unhappy baby otter. He goes back to Dadich, who wants a gun so he can kill Hanna. Michael ignores him and calls Percy. He fills Percy in on the details and asks how he's going to explain the mess to the police when they arrive. Percy thinks for a second and then: "You're the heroic agent who foiled a terrorist plot to deliver nuclear material into the hands of our enemies." But what to do with Dadich? He'll just blab to the police. Percy thinks a bit longer. "He was the one behind it," he says. Michael's mood brightens ever so slightly. Dadich starts trying to kiss his ass, but Michael just takes out his gun, aims it at Dadich's head, and pulls the trigger.
In her loft, Nikita is watching the news reports about the supposed terrorist plot. "Good save, Percy," Nikita says, lifting a glass of wine.
Charm School training facility. Alex is having it out with a heavy bag. Michael approaches her. I just noticed how bright blue his suit is. It's almost pimptastic... which I guess is oddly fitting for this episode. Alex tries to thank him for saving her, but he cuts her off. Percy's disappointed with her performance. "You've been given two weeks to show visible improvement," he says, "or it's over." Jaden's in trouble, too, but I have a hard time caring about that.
Time for one last flashback. Nikita arrives home with groceries, only to find Alex unconscious on the floor, an empty pill bottle in her hand. Nikita forces a glass of soapy water down her throat until she pukes up the pills. Alex flails away from Nikita's caring touch. "Just let me die!" she screams. She lies on the floor, crying that she has nothing to live for. Everyone she loves is dead. Nikita sits on the floor to her. She already knows all that. She admits to following Alex, to knowing how she got here and who killed her parents. "Trust me," she says, "you have something to live for." She offers her hand to Alex. Alex stares up at her in awe and takes her hand. Fade to black.
See what our No Prior Knowledge vlogger thinks of Nikita, below:
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Tippi Blevins is not a highly-trained secret assassin. As far as anyone knows. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.